Impeachment committee may get some wiretap tapes

Tuesday

The Illinois House impeachment committee may be getting some of the taped conversations federal investigators made of Gov. Rod Blagojevich as part of their criminal investigation.

The Illinois House impeachment committee may be getting some of the taped conversations federal investigators made of Gov. Rod Blagojevich as part of their criminal investigation.
In a surprise development, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald requested federal court permission to turn over a limited number of recordings to the committee. A hearing on the request is scheduled Monday.
In court papers, Fitzgerald asked to turn over the contents of four calls that “bear on a discrete episode of criminal conduct...” The episode deals with Blagojevich discussing getting a campaign contribution from someone who wanted him to sign a bill. The identities of those involved, other than Blagojevich, are not disclosed.
Prosecutors said the legislation is believed to be a law giving the horse racing industry a portion of riverboat casino revenue. Blagojevich has since signed the law.
Impeachment committee chair Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, said the panel’s work will be on hold until it learns if, and when, it might obtain the tapes.
“If the judge were to say we will have a briefing schedule in three months’ time, I think probably the committee would decide that we should go back to look at what we already have and make a determination whether that is adequate (to impeach),” Currie said.
If the committee gets the tapes quickly, though, they could provide the final evidence to impeach Blagojevich, she said.
“If we really do have the governor on tape saying to a lobbyist, ‘If you can get your client to pony up $100,000 or $50,000 or whatever in the next three days, I will sign that bill’... then I think there is no question the governor has offered something governmental for value received, and I think that is clearly illegal,” Currie said.
Blagojevich lawyer Ed Genson can try to block release of the material.
“I haven’t read the motion. I don’t know,” Genson said when questioned about it.
The committee asked Fitzgerald to release the entire volume of recorded material obtained during the investigation, including parts where Blagojevich allegedly tried to sell the vacant U.S. Senate seat formerly held by President-elect Barack Obama. Fitzgerald won’t release that or most other material, saying it would impede his ongoing investigation. Fitzgerald said, though, that the tapes dealing with the horse racing law can be safely released.
The impeachment committee met for about three hours Monday, spending most of the day hearing Genson defend Blagojevich. The Chicago attorney called no witnesses.
He insisted that nothing heard by the committee so far rises to the level of an impeachable offense.
“People are not impeached because they have disagreements with other members of government or because they have a low opinion rating,” Genson said. “It’s not fair to gather up all sorts of dissatisfaction individuals have with the administration and how they run things and say that is comparable to criminal conduct. They have not proved impeachable conduct.”
Although federal authorities tape recorded Blagojevich conversations that led to his arrest, Genson insisted again that there is no proof anything came of those conversations.
“The fact is, nothing happened,” he said. “It’s just talk, unfortunate talk, talk that shouldn’t have been said, perhaps.”
As he has before, Genson complained that the state has no standards for what is impeachable or even the standards of proof that will be used for impeachment.
“We are fighting shadows,” Genson said. “We are fighting unnamed people, witnesses who aren’t available, preliminary hearings that haven’t been held.”
For the next hour, members of the impeachment committee lashed back, reminding Genson that an impeachment hearing isn’t a criminal court case and that in Illinois, which has no specified standards for impeachment, an impeachable offense is in the eye of a lawmaker.
“The only standard in Illinois is ‘cause,’ said Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie. “It will be 118 definitions in the House and 59 in the Senate.”
Currie said last week that the committee could finish its work during the first week in January. That schedule is in doubt because of the court issues over the tapes. On Monday, she did not offer an new estimate for when things will be completed.

Doug Finke can be reached at (217) 788-1527.

Sidebar

Gov. Rod Blagojevich doesn’t like staying in the Executive Mansion, and his attorney doesn’t like the place, either.
Chicagoan Ed Genson stayed at the mansion one night after representing Blagojevich before the House impeachment committee. He wasn’t impressed.
“It’s a drafty place,” Genson said after Monday’s impeachment hearings. “I wouldn’t want to live there.”
Genson was put up in the Lincoln bedroom, which he found lacking.
“You know, it’s the smallest room there,” Genson said. “I was insulted. I mean it, everybody gets these big bedrooms, and I get this 2-by-4 bed. I was actually insulted I had to stay there. I didn’t know it was the Lincoln bedroom until I saw a sign on the wall, either.”
Genson only stayed at the mansion one night, in part because he is disabled and finds it difficult to get in and out of places on short notice. Even if the mansion were to his liking, it’s doubtful he’d be happy here.
“I don’t like it down here (in Springfield) that much,” Genson said.

-- Doug Finke

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